Emo's Not Dead

Another fly in the alphabet soup

River of Time. That would be a great name for an angsty, depressive band.

Some of you may remember that fateful day when the sleepy town of Norwich, Ontario found their courage. Counselors and constituents rallied. Progressives were hissing and spitting like feral cats with toxoplasmosis. And then, just when it was all shaping up to be a heck of a night — the township caved like a cheap tent. There we were, alone with our foam fingers and red plastic cups of half-finished, terrible-tasting beer.

Well, buckle up kids because *ding ding ding* we’ve got a new contender. He may have jagged, eye covering bangs and glossy black nails. He may stare at his ceiling late into the night, wondering why his parents don’t understand him or his skinny, acid-washed jeans. But he’s got that grit, baby. He’s got that blood and vinegar, and elbow grease, and fire, and baking soda.

Ladies and gentleman — Emooooo!

The stakes

For those who haven’t heard, Harold McQuaker, Lord Protector of Emo township, has refused to allow pride paraphernalia anywhere near his town hall. You know, the place where actual politics, as opposed to identity politics, happen. In response, a local pride group calling themselves “Borderlands Pride” ran off with their saggy diapers to whine to the Ontario Human Rights Commission. The OHRC, hungry for relevance, awarded them each a Medal of Honor before slapping a fine on both the mayor, and the township, of Emo:

Mayor McQuaker’s remark . . . that there was no flag for the ‘other side of the coin . . . for straight people’ was on its face dismissive of Borderland Pride’s flag request and demonstrated a lack of understanding of the importance to Borderland Pride and other members of the LGBTQ2 community of the Pride flag. I find this remark demeaning and disparaging of the LGBTQ2 community of which Borderland Pride is a member and therefore constituted discrimination under the Code.

How Emo responds will be determined by a council vote this coming Tuesday. This is, by the way, how decisions ought to be made — by debate and due process. Not by roving bands of emotionable hyenas.

Who speaks for Emo?

If a parent came to collect their child from a birthday party and saw one boy swinging from the chandeliers, another group tossing tent pegs into a Kitchenaid mixer, and another girl fixing herself a Manhattan, the question could reasonably be asked, “Who the $#%*@ is in charge here?”

And the answer, in Emo’s case, is — not Borderlands Pride. And not the OHRC.

See, the mayoral and conciliary offices are elected positions. Those who occupy them are there, presumably, because local people feel well-represented by them. A “local pride group,” in contrast, is not an elected position. Any local group is, by definition, a self-governing entity. Their goals, whether they be “Save the Alaskan Kelp,” or, “Don’t Close the Parkview Marina,” are necessarily going to be narrow. They (usually) do not see the whole picture. They only see themselves and their beloved issue.

Without getting into the validity or invalidity of any particular goal, one thing is certain: the main duty of an elected official is to weigh the many and varied desires of his constituents with the good of the larger community. And part of that duty is making sure no one, least of all Homo Cassidy and the Alphabet Gang, hijacks the train.

In a rural town with a total population of 1400, there's what — maybe seven openly gay people? Even that would be a stretch. In other words, the concerns of Borderlands Pride are most likely NOT the concerns of 98% of the residents of Emo. They are the concerns, most likely, of wealthy older white ladies who like hearing themselves talk and typically have endless free time for activism.

Which leads me to another thing. Borderland Pride co-chair and director Douglas W. Judson has stated, “Mayor McQuaker’s role requires that he represent everyone in the community, including 2SLGBTQIA+ people.” But this is incorrect. No mayor’s role is to represent every single person in their jurisdiction. Not only is this impossible, it’s just not wise. What about the Local Pedophile Society? What about the Make Soup from Puppy Spleens Society? What about the Demolishing of Heritage Properties Society? So Judson’s premise, uttered as a universal truth, is false; not everyone's concerns in a community should be represented.

Now we can ask the question, should the concerns of “2SLGBTQIA+ people” in particular be represented? Let’s see — should an anti-family, anti-biology, perpetually divisive, marxist entity be something mayor’s should be celebrating?

I’ll let you fill in the blank. But there may or may not be a sad trombone at the end depending on what you fill it with.

Feelings over facts

What is manifestly apparent in the wake of Commissioner Karen Dawson’s verdict is that the Ontario Human Right Tribunal is an especially vigorous dumpster fire that should not be in charge of making an omelette, let alone dispensing fines. And has anyone else noticed the suspicious absence of objectivity during this whole thing?

For example, Dawson concludes, “I find this remark demeaning and disparaging.” Do you? She mentions, “The township is acting dismissive and demonstrating a lack of understanding.” Are they? Who are you to determine what is demeaning and disparaging? What if Emo finds your attempts to railroad their municipal autonomy demeaning and disparaging? And what if pride politics deserve to be demeaned and disparaged? And in what way can the endlessly moldable Human Rights Code function as any sort of objective metric to such things?

We saw similar tactics at work during the freedom convoy. People felt threatened. But feelings don’t determine threats. That’s why we don’t put OCD sufferers in charge of pandemic preparedness committees. When we let feelings determine threats, and consequently, response, we are engaging in what some have called, “toxic empathy.” On this, Allie Beth Stuckey states, "Empathy has become a tool of manipulation by left-wing activists who bully people into believing that they must adopt progressive positions to be loving.”

See, it doesn’t matter to Borderland Pride that McQuaker is an experienced, well-respected, father and grandfather. The only thing that matters is that he is a fly in the rainbow ointment. He is a glitch in the matrix. He is the flaw in the machine.

Which leads to my next point, and is that the mafia tactics on display by borderland pride confirms what we’ve been saying for years, and that is that LGBT is a totalizing movement. It isn’t enough for gays to be tolerated. They must be publicly praised and celebrated for days and days and months on end. This posture is typical for those with wounded consciences. Have you ever had an infected fingernail? Notice how even the slightest brush of contact is enough to make you want to crumple into a tiny weeping ball? That’s what it’s like for pride. They want everyone to support them not just because they believe it’s worth supporting, but because they're bruised and battered conscience is unable to withstand the truth about their lifestyle.

Both the mayor, and the township, have now been fined 5,000 dollars each, which they, rightly, are refusing to pay, and which they need to continue to refuse to pay. I say this because there is a tendency, when small-town gunslingers suddenly find themselves embroiled in a war they didn’t ask for, to give in. They get sick of the hate. They get sick of the threats. They get sick of the devastation identity politics wrecks on communities.

All of this is understandable, but I repeat — they need to appeal. The battle for principles has been lost at both Federal and Provincial levels. The only line of meaningful resistance now falls to small towns. May Emo not become yet another cautionary tale of the likes of Norwich, Ontario.

Come on Emo, you got this.